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We all love a new set, especially when it rounds out one of the best blocks I think I've ever played. Dragon's Maze is here and smacking Standard with full force right in the gut. But that's the beautiful thing about a new set. It shakes up the meta, lets us brewers put on our biggest brew caps, and find all new kinds of decks to try to break the format wide open. That is exactly what I set out to do with a stack of Dragon's Maze packs and some crazy ideas in my head. Especially when I cracked those packs and pulled out two of the rares I was most interested in pulling. A giant of a fat Rakdos bomb that I feel is going to take Standard by storm and make the Esper decks quiver in their Sphinx's Revelation

So looking at this list two things should jump out at you immediately about it. One is the crazy lack of creatures. This deck takes full advantage of the powerful removal suite in these colors and sacrifices the creature base in response. The other is the seemingly do nothing enchantment that takes up three slots in the main board. I am of course speaking of Shrieking Affliction

decks. This unimpressive one drop never really had a place in the Standard Meta, although its potential power cannot be denied. Taking three a turn on your upkeep means that you are not long for this world. With no real consistent hand disruption and discard spells in Standard, it simply did not have a home to fit in. With the release of Dragon's Maze, however, we now have a consistent and powerful way to make sure Shrieking Affliction

to trigger and stay turned on for as long as both are on the table. The great thing about this combo kill is that it is very, very difficult to disrupt once it starts rolling. Both pieces require instant speed removal that the opponent has to top deck. Plus, enchantment hate is not exactly something you see played much now a days so there isn't too much concern of that part being destroyed.

The rest of the deck is a support shell designed you keep you alive until your combo fires. Two Syncopate

is still one of the best kill spells in the format. Although it is a sorcery, it hits literally everything that isn't covered by hexproof including Planeswalkers, which are notoriously difficult for Grixis

round out the sorcery speed removal suite in hard hitting fashion. As for instant speed removal, this deck grants us access to arguably the best new removal spell in the format. That is of course Turn // Burn. Being able to kill anything is good, but shutting down some of the best creatures in the format at the same time is fantastic. Finally we have a one card answer to Thragtusk

is back baby and on a mission to destroy your hand and make you weep. Besides it being one of my favorite color combinations, this deck has a two card combo (a rarity in this format) that can actually kill your opponent (an even rarer rarity). I really do enjoy this deck and I will continue to test and make improvements on it. I'm not completely sold on the numbers of spells and the sideboard so there may very well be some slight changes coming in this deck's future. Thanks so much for reading! As always, you can find me on twitter at @axlxexc to get updates on all my lists, thoughts, and fantasies. Also, hit me up on MTGO at xiRoRsChAcHix. I love playing games, especially with friends, Romans, and countrymen. Please leave me some feedback below. Good or bad I love to know what my readers are thinking and feeling about my brews. Thanks again everyone.

Keep brewing out there!

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